David Cameron’s Commute In Numbers

He was at a Tesco branch on Portobello Road when the bike – which he joked was “an old friend” – disappeared.

…

“It’s priceless to me. I’ve done over a thousand miles on it and three sponsored bike rides of 250 miles each, so it’s like an old friend. It’s fantastic.”

Eh? Three 250 mile rides means 250 miles normal use, which at 9 miles round trip from Notting Hill to Westminster is, er, 28 round trips. Either he’s done a lot more than a thousand miles on it (and is being very modest about ‘over’, which is unlikely for a politician and ex-PR man) or he doesn’t go to work very often or he doesn’t actully *cycle* to work very often, or it’s not really an ‘old friend’ at all. Not all the facts can be true here. If he genuinely cycles to the Commons all the time he’ll do over a thousand miles just on that run in no time at all.

At a guess, as a party leader he doesn’t actually go to the Commons much, except for special occasions like PMQs and big debates (theyworkforyou says he took part in 27% of votes in Parliament, but spoke in 40 debates), and doesn’t use the bike for the other engagements, which are likely to be further away. So the image of ‘Cycling Dave Cameron’ is therefore a bit of a myth, given that going to the Commons is a small part of an Opposition Leader’s itinerary.

Supporting that, his declared gifts include

…helicopter and private plane travel…

from eight individuals or companies.

Or, alternatively, he’s been misquoted by a left wing Sunday tabloid, of course.

I do a lot of work for charidee, but I don’t like to talk about it…
“It’s priceless to me. I’ve done over a thousand miles on it and three sponsored bike rides of 250 miles each, so it’s like an old friend. It’s fantastic.”